Quilt retreat and good friends!

 Last Thursday, I trekked to Encampment for a quilt retreat which has become an annual event. Approximately 30 quilters, experienced and novice participated for the two day retreat.  With quilts displayed and hung from nearly every available space, it can only be described as a truly successful venture again.  We set up Thursday afternoon and returned on Sunday for clean-up. This community of quilters and residents furnished enough food for 3 meals both days and there was an abundance of salads, desserts and meats for all as well as breakfast casseroles and drinks.

 This is a portion of the Green River ladies' quilt inventory, which they transported in a U-Haul truck and it is also the fourth year they have come with their wares and have taught a class.  It is owned by a gal and her mother and they assured us that they love coming here and have already committed to next year, same place, same time.

 The flower above is a fractured technique, taught by an instructor on Saturday and although both classes taught were optional, almost everyone took both classes and this gal came from Nebraska, also having taught last year.
Below is the wall hanging, the Green River gals taught on Friday and will hold Christmas cards or pictures etc. and I thoroughly enjoyed learning both techniques.  The camaraderie with all of these ladies is terrific and we all feel like one big family. We have been through some tough times and some great times and in a small ranching community, it is especially necessary. I had been gone for a year and when I arrived, each and everyone of my friends gave me the biggest bear hugs...it brought me to tears and I so miss them.

 Enough of the pity party. The Mr. and I have been hitting garage sales as I have mentioned before and yesterday was an unusually great day. However, the little sewing machine below was scored at a flea market a few weeks ago and it now graces the top of my White Treadle.  Love it!

Next time, more about the garage sale day.

Garden addition and more

 Our small backyard has much potential for gardening and the ugly spot of grass is going to be beautiful when I get finished with it.  The Mr. has been killing the invasive crabgrass-like green growth in the lawn and I decided to eliminate the grass all together in this spot by building a flower bed.  Yes! I have in the past had great success in making great flower beds in questionable soil by lining the area with layers of newspaper and covering with good soil and mulch.  This is left over the fall and winter to compost and in the spring....plant!!!

 We used about 10 bags of garden soil and some dead and decomposing grass clippings (NO SEEDS) .

 Looks pretty good right now and will be even more wonderful next year.  The downside is that I forgot that I have a little grey dog who loves to play in the dirt....so he has been loving it for now.  We have had a good deal of rain in the evenings so this will speed up the decay process.  I also did not take into account of the sprinklers which cannot easily be seen so I had the Mr. turn them on, hoping that I had not covered up one of them.  Luckily I did not and there is one just to the side of my bed which will water the entire area.

 These are not great pictures of the spoon pincushion, but the idea is clear I think.  I found this great large shell-bowled spoon for a dollar at a yard sale and with some of the items my buddy and I had collected, I was able to make this antique look for a little of nothing with fabric and glue!  I am on the hunt now for more!  The Mr. and I have been hitting a lot of garage sales and we have scored some stuff we probably don't need.  However, we meet some nice people!

"Imagination is the highest kite one can fly." ~ Lauren Bacall

Sumer?

 

 Summer has been so busy!  I did not realize it had been so long since I posted anything!  We have had house guests the past two weekends.  It has been great to have family and friends. Of course, Frontier Days, the Daddy of them All, was here for 10 days and that was a huge event and now with Sturgis just north of us, the celebrating continues with the onset of bikes traveling through.  Above is the finished quiver that the Mr. finished and the intended niece and her husband came to pick it up this past weekend.  It fit well as she is a tiny little thing and she seemed to love it.  I moved into this home with no knowledge of the plantings in the back yard and after what seemed like a long winter, this spring brought pleasant surprises.  However, this plant was unknown to me and I waited to see if it was friend or foe. My gardening guru was here last week and correctly identified it as Hollyhock Mallow or miniature hollyhocks.  (I did some research after I had an idea of the name of the plant).  The plants, and they are several, were no doubt planted by the birds as they all are directly below the fence line. My neighbor has them I discovered and I love them!  

 As you can see, they grow quite tall and have tiny blooms which look like Hollyhocks. They will be allowed to grow here in abundance.  Below, the pot, which experienced a disastrous hailstorm, stripping the leaves and blooms early in the summer, now flourishes and the little bunnies which frolic below are all garage sale purchases.

 Also surprising me was this beautiful Clematis.  The blooms are fading now but it has bloomed almost constantly all summer.

We have been hitting a lot of garage sales (and have scored some great deals), walking the dogs through the neighborhood and parks, and spending time in retirement doing what we like.  Life is good!

"Think of the world YOU carry within YOU". ~ Ranier Maria Rilke